"Wendy Woloson considers seriously the detritus of everyday consumerist Western lives--a category that comprises objects that function as art, jokes, tools, embodiments of fantasies, cultural signifiers, status symbols, and much more; a.k.a. "crap." She seeks to use these possessions to illuminate our society, culture, and economy. Why do we--as individuals and as a culture--have these things? Where do they come from, and why do we want them? In her words, this investigation "brings together material culture, consumer culture, behavioral economics, cultural economics, the histories of industrialization, capitalism and international trade, among other disciplines." Also, there's a Lightning Sausage"-- Provided by publisher.

Introduction : Our crap, our selves -- A nation of cheap jacks. From the cheapening mania to universal cheapness ; Cheap goods in a chain store age -- Better living through gadgetry. Perpetual improvements ; Gadget mania -- Land of the free. Getting nothing for something ; The price of loyalty -- (No) accounting for taste. The business of heritage ; Connoisseurship for sale -- Value propositions. Collecting commemoration ; Manufacturing scarcity -- But wait, there's more. Joke's on you -- Epilogue : a world made of crap.